The North has rocky soil with fast flowing rivers and lots of big mountains. There are big areas of ocean with high amounts of fish and ports for shipbuilding. There was only small scale farming due to the lack of good soil for farming. The North could be a very cold and unforgiving with a short growing season and lots of snow and rain.
The South on the other hand is covered with perfect soil, big flat areas which were perfect for farming, and some small slow moving river compared to the fast flowing rivers of the North. There are some small mountains around the South. The main way to make money was large scale farming with slaves, due to the great soil and growing season, they would farm on huge acres of flat ground and the main product would be cotton. Of course it was the slaves doing most of the work for the Cottonocracy while the Plain Folk and poor whites worked with their slaves if they had any. Also, the South has long growing seasons, with nice warm weather and not much snow. That means that it was a nice place to live and if you were part of the Cottonocracy, it was quite leisurely.